intuitivelOve wrote:smh at everyone not seeing how these comments show insecurity/arrogance and creates unnecessary drama. Kobe should have simply said its everyone team and everyone have a different role. He would still be able to average the same number of fga and be team captain while eliminating UNNECESSARY drama?? whats wrong with that???..nothing!..unless you insecure/arrogant and therefore need to make it KNOWN to the media!!! Dwight will be gone this summer if nobody talk to Kobe and give him a reality check about this!!

I really worry about your views to be honest. For someone who literally obsesses over all things Kobe how you could ever say the man is insecure baffles me. It isn't like you don't understand the game or that ESPN is a huge joke so I don't get your angle at all. Yes, I have seen all your post sense my first response and I am still baffled. I'll help you on a few things that should make it clear for you.

If Kobe said: 1.Nothing. ESPN would say Kobe and Lakers mum about whose team it is. Problems in LALA land already?2. It's Dwights Team. ESPN would say that Kobe is lying about whose team it is and will go full ballhog or sabotage mode as soon as the team starts losing. Then they will shot all sorts of clips to prove the point.

What you fail to see:1. Kobe took all the pressure off of Nash and Dwight by saying "he is responsible" for this team. 2. This is the L-A L-A-K-E-R-S which means that no matter what the media will find or create drama (see Dwight thread.. oh I see you already have)3. Kobe has done nothing different in his approach in the entire time he has been in the league. He knows that people are going to overreact to anything he says, kind of like you.

What I fail to see:1. Your point in all this.2. Kobe's arrogance or insecurity.3. How this is detrimental to the team.

Well thats enough going around in circles.

I don't always bring down the hammer but when I do it is usually to a troll! Stay TROLL FREE my freinds!

Anywho, you're spot on. That's why this isn't as much of an issue as people want it to be. Kobe didn't do anything WRONG with what he said, he was just being honest. Jordan would have done the same thing, as would a few other superstars.

It's really a non-issue and if you asked Howard about it, I'm sure he'd agree.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The first sign of trouble in paradise surfaced Monday when Steve Nash, the newest member of the rock band known as the Lakers, was asked by a breathless TV reporter what he thinks about Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Dwight Howard when he's home in the evening.

After an awkward silence, Nash came clean.

"I don't think about those guys at nighttime," Nash said with a grin that was somewhere between bemused and blushing.

So, there you have it -- the first sign that the Lakers, who have Los Angeles back to being ga-ga over them, are doomed to be swallowed up between now and June not by the Thunder or the Heat, but by the usual Hollywood excesses -- greed, self-absorption, petulance and lack of commitment.

For nearly two hours, when the new-look, newly reloaded Lakers held their media day, players and coaches were subjected to questions that probed possible cracks that will surely become fissures.

Can Howard and Bryant get along?

Are they too old or frail?

Is the Princeton offense too complicated for them or too unfriendly for Nash?

All fair-enough questions, but in the end they overlook the bottom line in the reconstruction of the Lakers, who are not only set up for right now, but for the future with Howard as the franchise cornerstone:

The Lakers are too smart to fail.

Comparisons between the Lakers and the Heat are sure to pop up all season, just as they did Monday, serving as a cautionary tale of how difficult it is for superstar talent to gel into a team.

But the comparison misses on a couple points. This isn't just throwing two superstars (LeBron James and Dwyane Wade) and an All-Star (Chris Bosh) together like a fantasy league team and seeing what happens.

The Lakers are a roster full of complementary parts -- especially amongst their marquee players -- and perhaps just as importantly complementary personalities.

On the court, their games fit together like a puzzle. Howard's pick-and-roll defense solves a decades-long problem for the Lakers, and his presence around the basket will cover many other defensive deficiencies. Nash's ability to create shots for others will allow Howard to dive on pick-and-rolls, and should decrease the degree of difficulty for Bryant. Gasol, rejuvenated after last season's uncertainty, has a like-minded passer in Nash, who is likely to be cognizant of making sure Gasol and Howard get enough touches.

More interesting will be how their personalities meld. The predictable question about ownership of the Lakers was greeted by a predictable answer from Bryant.

"I don't want to get into the, 'Well, we share...,'" Bryant said. "No, it's my team. But I want to make sure that Dwight, when I retire, this is going to be his. I want to teach him everything I possibly know so that when I step away this organization can ride on as if I never left."

It's easy to imagine how that type of patronizing speech would have gone over with Chris Paul, who's a few months older than Howard. (Probably like a Gasol pat on the head.)

But the truth is that Howard does have a lot to learn. As funny and engaging as Howard can be, he's also immature and -- if last season's fiasco in Orlando didn't reveal this -- not exactly a sophisticate. (He certainly has that in common with James.) Howard revealed this Monday when he shared a story about Lakers fans' enthusiasm by relating some interaction he had with "a little Jewish girl."

If Bryant remains the face -- and the focus -- of the Lakers, it allows Howard the opportunity to refine himself without the fortunes of the franchise riding on his every move, on and off the court. (This holds until he drops a hint that maybe he won't re-sign.)

"This is something I need so I can grow as a player and a person," Howard said. "I know he's going to be tough on me, but I expect that. I'll take all that he's going to give me because it's going to make me a better player."

Whether this is genuine will be proven over time. But what is certain is that Howard and Bryant will be surrounded by many other pieces that should make their tasks easier. Metta World Peace, whose offseason training regimen during the lockout revolved around the three-martini lunch, is 18 pounds lighter (255) than he was to start last season.

Nash not only drastically upgrades the point guard position from Ramon Sessions and before that Derek Fisher, but he and Jodie Meeks add much-needed 3-point shooting. Antawn Jamison could replace the punch they lost with Lamar Odom off the bench, and re-signing Jordan Hill gives them an intriguing big man off the bench. Better depth should prevent coach Mike Brown from running his starters into the ground like he did last year.

Bryant said this is the most talented team he has ever been a part of. Presumably, though, there will be points during the season where the sorting out requires heated discussions with strong opinions. But they will not come from players who are concerned with scoring averages, All-Star appearances or max contracts.

They will be from players with high basketball IQs, many of whom have been there and done that.

"We're all grown men, or grown boys," Nash said. "We've been through this before. I think everyone will understand that our motives are pure. We're not out here to do anything but win and make the group better. So, if we have to have heart-to-hearts from time to time, if voices are raised, that's part of being a team and building a team."

It's what might be expected from one that has been so intelligently designed.

Anywho, you're spot on. That's why this isn't as much of an issue as people want it to be. Kobe didn't do anything WRONG with what he said, he was just being honest. Jordan would have done the same thing, as would a few other superstars.

It's really a non-issue and if you asked Howard about it, I'm sure he'd agree.

Would be great if CL had a mobile version of this site

I'm actually glad he said it and got it out of the way. Even if he gave a PC answer like its "our team", we know how he really feels. Like you said, a lot of other superstars would feel the same way. Although I doubt they have the balls to say it to the media like he did. At least not the superstars in the league today. Pierce didn't say it when Garnett and Allen came. Neither did Wade or LeBron when they teamed up. But that's what makes Kobe and Jordan special--their supreme confidence/arrogance.

"It's my team," said Bryant at the Lakers annual Media Day on Monday, "but I want to make sure that Dwight (Howard), when I retire, this is going to be his (team) and I want to teach him everything I possibly know so that when I step away, this organization can ride on as if I never left."

Howard has yet to take up the offer but it's very much on his mind and something he and Bryant have discussed regularly since the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year was acquired from Orlando in a trade during the offseason.

"I'm happy. Me and Kobe have talked plenty of times about it and I think it'll be great," Howard said.

But before he makes that choice, before he can take on the responsibility of being the torch bearer for the Lakers going forward, there are some things he admits he wants to learn.

At the top of the list is how to lead.

"It's a process and I'm willing to go through that process and learn from one of the greatest to ever play the game," Howard said. "Learning from Kobe, I think this is something that I need for myself, so I can grow as a player and as a person and he's been through almost every situation possible, on the court and off the court, and I think he can really help me out a lot."

In Howard, Bryant sees a player after his own heart. The five-time NBA champion sees a player who has a drive to want to be the best, much like himself. He sees a player with the talent, skill, and charisma to be able to be at the forefront of a franchise as polarizing as the Lakers.

It's the reason in discussions with Lakers Executive Vice President of Player Personnel, Jim Buss, Bryant told him if had the opportunity to be able to acquire Howard to "get him." With all of the back and forth between Howard and Orlando as well as the constant rumors of him either wanting to or not wanting to come to L.A. in the rear view, Bryant wants to make sure Howard as all the tools needed to allow the Lakers to press on once he decides to retire.

"I think the talks that I'll have with Dwight are really just about focusing in on his craft," Bryant said. "He has the determination and the willingness to be the best and he wants to be the best and I certainly can help him with that and I will help him with that."

Bryant's demeanor as a leader is more kick in the rear than pat on the back. Howard is aware of that and the challenge it represents. He's not going to shy away from the wrath that comes with being a teammate of Kobe Bryant.

"I know (he's) going to be tough on me but I expect that and I want him to do that," Howard said. "I want to be that guy, so I'll take all the heat that he's going to give me because I know at the end of the day that's going to make me a better player and a better person so I'm looking forward to it."

In Howard, the Lakers have acquired not only a big presence in the middle, but a big personality. An Alpha-male, if you will. Bryant hasn't had to share the floor or the locker room with such a player since Shaquille O'Neal. Howard doesn't see it as a problem at all and dismisses any notion that he and Bryant won't be able to coexist.

"Kobe's Kobe and I'm who I am," Howard said. "I think we're going to have fun. We all want to win. We'll be fine."

Since the trade to come to the Lakers was made official, he's continued to say all of the right things, which includes noting his willingness to take a step back and follow Bryant's lead. However, it's not a position he's really had to be in during his career.

Bryant, however has. Still he doesn't see Kobe and Dwight having the same issues as Kobe and Shaq, at least not on the floor, anyway.

"We do different things," Bryant said. "Having Steve (Nash) helps tremendously. It's a different dynamic than it was when I was here with Shaq. I had to do something that I naturally don't do which is be a quarterback, make plays for other people, and score. So, the responsibility of him getting the ball fell on me and it's like 'this is not what I do.'

"But here, that's Steve. Steve's the quarterback. He has a great system in the Princeton Offense to, kind of, play around with and manipulate and I just slide to my natural spot."

If the Lakers are going to have success, all of the pieces have to fit together. Not just Bryant and Howard or vice versa.